


Love & War

by MarsCosta



Series: Savin' Me [1]
Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Halloween, Inspired by Music, Lovers To Enemies, Mutant Powers, Sex, Smut, Tricks and Treats of Riverdale, X-Men References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-23 23:08:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21328198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarsCosta/pseuds/MarsCosta
Summary: Betty and Jughead are mutants trying to survive a dangerous world that wants to destroy their kind, while also trying to figure out the love they feel for one another in spite of their differences.Mutant AU
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Series: Savin' Me [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836811
Comments: 24
Kudos: 90
Collections: 6th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees, Tricks and Treats of Riverdale





	Love & War

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my contribution to Tricks&Treats of Riverdale 2019!  
Last year I was all about vampires, and this year, I decided to write about another obsession of mine, mutants.  
This was inspired a lot by the series "The Gifted" and some characters from the x-men comic books. 
> 
> Lastly, I want to send a gigantic thank you to the ladies running this event, Cat, Mila and Sarah, because without their extensions I wouldn't have managed to finish this (college life is hard, guys), and as always, a shout out to Cyd, the best beta in the world. ❤️

_"Lover, (...) friend and enemy, you will always be every one of these. Nothing's fair in love and war. In life, in love, this time I can't afford to lose. For one, for all, I'll do what I have to do. You can't understand, it's all part of the plan (...) Nothing's fair in love and war."_

_\- Fleurie, Love and War_

* * *

**Betty**

_ "Stop! Jughead, don't do this! Please!" Betty begged, struggling against the arms holding her back. "We don't need to do what they did! Please, stop this!" _

_ When he finally looks at her, it's like his eyes are dead, empty, devoid of every emotion she’s come to know over the years. "No, Betty. This… this is the only way we can fight back. It’s the only chance we have at a future with no more hiding, suffering, fear or shame." He turns away from her, flames begin to dance on his fingers before forming a fireball on his palm. "Pick him up." _

_ The human guard tied up at the tree begins to scream and Betty’s head all but explodes at the pain streaming out of him. _

**Two years later…**

To say Betty's exhausted would be an understatement. Exhausted doesn't quite cover how sore her soon-to-be bruised body is and how she feels like the top of her skull is being pressed the inside of her head pulses in agony. 

"Will you be okay?" Reggie asks worriedly.

"Yeah, I’ll be fine. It's nothing a week or two of sleep won't heal," she jokes with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. 

"Let us know if you need anything," he replies seriously, knowing better than to believe her.

"Will do, Boss. Will do." 

She walks through the tunnels as fast as she can, welcoming the much needed darkness as she reaches the forest. The lights of the underground were making her dizzy, intensifying her pain. 

Her _ bunker _ is close to their camp's entrance. It allows her the ability to hear possible invaders and provide a warning to the rest of the camp if necessary. She’s thankful for it in this instance, because it's where she can find some sort of peace and quiet to her constantly loud mind. 

She doesn't bother turning on any lights, not even to go down into the bunker; she was used to doing everything in the dark. After a hot shower that does wonders for her sore muscles, she goes straight to bed, hoping that the pain subsides enough for her to fall asleep. 

\--

When she finally wakes up, it's still completely dark, no light coming from the small, round skylight on her bathroom, which means she either got just a few hours or slept through the day. 

It takes her a moment to realize that she isn't alone. She sits up, surprised. It's really, really hard to surprise a telepath of her ability. As a matter of fact, it should be impossible to surprise her. But then again, she had pretty much drained herself. 

_ What is he doing here? _

"What are you doing here?" As she voices her question, a small, candle sized flame appears in the dark room, lighting up his face. 

"Hello to you, too." 

She ignores his greeting. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you were doing." The flame on his index finger dances, spreading to his other fingers, before a medium sized flame appears in his right palm. 

Self-conscious of the way he's staring at her, the darkness no longer concealing her face, Betty runs a hand through the wavy mess that her hair became while she slept. He doesn't say anything and the silence is deafening. 

"You shouldn't be here," she finally says, looking away from him. "I mean, how are you here?" 

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters, Jughead! If you are here, it means that we are not safe." Betty pauses, trying to organize her racing thoughts. "Do your psycho friends know we're here?" 

He sighs heavily, shaking his head and she doesn't need to read his mind to know the question annoyed him deeply. "Can we not talk labels right now? I heard you got hurt and I just came to see if you're alright." 

"How can we not talk labels? You're a member of the Brotherhood. Magneto's Brotherhood. You're one of the bad guys!" 

For a moment, he stands there, pensive. "Aren't we all? The bad guys, I mean. The Homo Sapiens surely seems to think that way." 

Knowing well they've been here before, and that this will lead nowhere, she doesn't argue with him. 

"Why are you really here, Jug?" she asks a moment later, unsure of how to deal with his presence.

"I came to see you." He says, not budging an inch of whatever resolve he has.

"You saw me. I'm fine. It's nothing--"

"A week or two of sleep won't heal?" He cuts her off completing her sentence with ease. "Come on, Betty. That can work on Reggie or the other goons you're teamed up with, but you can't lie to me." He pauses, and she doesn't miss the step closer he takes. "How are you? Honestly." 

"Don’t ask questions you already know the answers to.” 

He laughs humorlessly. “You’re the telepath, Betty. Not me.” 

Tilting her head, she studies him with big, curious green eyes and with an almost extenuant effort, she brings her barriers down, tuning in with her ability.

“Is that why all I can hear from you is _ hey Mr. Tambourine would you play a song for me _?” she asks, scoffing at his actions. 

"Thought I told you to stay out of my head, " he chastises with a slight shake of his head.

"I thought I gave you my word that I wouldn't read your mind unless you let me, and yet, here you are using childish schemes to keep me out, which means you don't trust me." 

Silence falls between them , making her wonder why he bothered coming, after so long.

The moment she decides to speak, he does too, and they end up speaking at the same time. 

"You should leave." --"I miss you." 

Hearing each other's words, they both freeze, standing there at a loss for what to say or do next. 

Jughead snaps out of it first. "If that's what you want, I'll leave. Just know I meant it." He pauses again. "I do miss you, Betts," he whispers a heartbeat later, and Betty's heart aches in a familiar way she hates. 

Before she can really think about what she's doing, she's getting up and walking the distance between them, standing on her toes to press a kiss to his lips. Darkness surrounds them again as the fire on his hand disappears as he wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss. 

And for a second, it’s like nothing had changed. He’s here again and the past year is nothing but the shadow of a nightmare. His lips and tongue taste the same. His hand on the back of her neck, tilting her head back for better access, is warm -- warmer than most humans -- but that’s part of being pyrokinetic . 

She shuts off the most rational part of her brain as his hands find the hem of her tank top and begin pushing the fabric up and up until it’s over hear head and tossed on the floor. His black t-shirt follows and as he reaches for her bra, she doesn’t miss the large serpent tattooed on his shoulder, screaming at her to who he belonged now, but then he’s leading her to the bed and her mind is exploding with the feelings and sensations he’s always made her feel. 

Later, there’s light coming from the bathroom and she watches Jughead as he sleeps next to her. She doesn’t move from his hold, knowing how much of a light sleeper he is. Years in a lab being tested would do that to anyone. Betty remembered the first time he spoke to her about what he had been through. 

_ They would come for us at all times. Day, night, it didn’t matter. From the cells we couldn’t tell the time, but the experiment rooms had a small window. _

It always baffled her how some people were capable of the most horrifying and unspeakable things just because they claimed mutants were a threat, nothing but freaks and monsters. 

She knew, from personal experience that some mutants were indeed monsters, but those were the exception, not the rule. And even if sometimes life, the universe or whatever challenged her to change her mind, she never lost the hope that one day they’d be living in a world where humans and mutants would coexist in peace and harmony. 

“You’re thinking too loud,” hHe mumbles behind her. He moves and she moves with him, turning around to face him and rest her head on his chest. “Hi,” he says, and as his hand brushes away a hair from her face, her eyes find the barcode tattooed on his wrist, an eternal reminder of the horrors he had survived. 

Jughead notices and he uses a finger to tip her chin up, so she can look at him. “What’s on your mind, beautiful?” 

“I was thinking about how much I wish things could be different.” 

“What things?” he asks when she doesn’t continue. 

“The world, humans, mutants, us. I wish it could all be different, and I still hope for the day when it will.” Jughead sighs, but he doesn’t say anything, settling for running a hand through her hair. She misses him more than words could ever describe and this moment with him makes her think of what they had and what they could still have. “We could be together again, you know? When things are different.” She pauses, raising her head to look at him. “I miss us, Jug.” 

“I miss us too, Betts. How about we make the most of this, then?” He asks jokingly, and she pretends to ignore the real meaning of his words. 

“Sure. What do you have in mind?” 

\--

The next time Betty wakes up, she is alone. There’s a piece of paper on her bedside table, but she leaves it there, ignoring it and the painful memories it brings, along with the fact that he is gone again. 

For the next few days, she does her best to try and get back to normal, and although no one notices anything, her mind swirls with the thoughts of him and what had happened, and where they stand after it. 

One night, unable to sleep, she thinks about them. 

When she’d first met Jughead, almost five years ago, just after he had been rescued from the containment center, he was a damaged young man, as most mutants were in the crazy world they lived in. Wanting to see him get better, she’d engaged in helping him and a friendship began. From that friendship came trust and with that, a bond deeper than what they had ever expected. There was hardly anything they hadn't shared with each other. Once his body was fully healed, he was offered a place on her team, an opportunity to help others like he had been helped. 

It was one day during one of their many training sessions, that he kissed her for the first time, and the rest happened naturally. Initially, she had been beyond happy, but also so terrified, because having someone also meant the possibility of losing someone, and she’d had enough loss to last her for a lifetime. 

But then Veronica, her best friend, told her something she would never forget. _ “B, I understand better than anyone what you’re thinking and feeling, but hear me out. When you have nothing left, when you live a life like the one we live, always on the run, always looking over our shoulders, you need someone. I know how terrifying it is, the idea of trusting someone after what we’ve been through with our families, but it’s okay. It’s okay to trust, and… dare I say, it’s okay to love. I know the fear you’re feeling, after all Archiekins is a human, but we can’t be alone in this.” _

She had trusted her friend, allowing herself to not be alone for the first time since she’d left her family. 

Her days with Jughead had been the best on her life. It was the happiest she ever felt and that happiness made her forget about how ephemeral the good times were. 

It started when he tried to find his sister, Forsythia Jones, whom he lovingly called Jellybean. Faster than what they expected, Valerie, a mutant with technological abilities, managed to find her. It came as a shock to find out that Jellybean, now known as Thia was part of the Young Friends of Humanity, a teenager branch of the Purifiers, who engaged on social media sites to spread their hate for mutants. Along with that information, Valerie learned that the girl had been adopted by a family of Purifiers, and often blamed her older brother for destroying her birth family. 

The whole thing wrecked Jughead, as it should, keeping him up at night and preoccupied and snappy during the day when she often found him watching his sister's videos. In hindsight, she should’ve seen it coming. The change. But she was too worried about him to actually notice what was happening. When she did notice, it was too late. 

They went on a supply run, like they did every fortnight, when possible, but this time, Purifiers were waiting for them. Their numbers were good, four to three, and the humans knew they didn’t stand a chance against four mutants, not even with their shotguns, Betty had read that much on their minds. However, before they could even think, Jughead was using his powers to heat up the metal in the human's hands, up to the point where skin and metal began to melt, the man's scream doing nothing to stop him.

_ “You won't be using that hand of yours to destroy a family never again," _he had said and if not for Veronica taking over the situation and freezing both his hands and the man's, undoubtedly, the worst would have happened. 

They had returned to their base immediately, where Reggie had demanded an explanation, risking sending Jughead away, to fend for himself. Their group had zero tolerance for violence against humans. 

_ "Those people destroyed me. They destroyed my little sister. They ruined my family! Why the hell should they be allowed to destroy anything else?!" _

Betty had been in a state of shock back then, unable to react. Reggie, on the other hand, had been nothing but understanding and merciful. 

_ "It's clear that you're not ready to be out with the team, Jones. It was too much, too fast and I should've thought better of it. I should send you away, but you're one of us, and that means you have a place here. However, you're off this team, effective immediately." _

After that, things only got worse. Betty tried to be there for him, listening, helping, talking or simply staying by his side, but he still drifted away from her. And one day, a few weeks later, he was just gone. The few belongings he owned were gone too, and for a moment, she thought something bad had happened. It was then that she found his note. Carefully folded in two, her name written on top of it. 

Getting up, she opens up the last drawer, where she'd kept his letter. The paper was starting to get yellow, and she opened it carefully. 

_ Betts, _

_ I think I should start this by saying I'm sorry. _

_ I'm sorry for leaving like a thief in the night, without saying goodbye. But that's the thing. I can't say goodbye to you. First, because I'm sure that seeing you would have stopped me from leaving all together and second, because this isn't a goodbye, this is a "I'll see you soon". I need time to figure out who I am, what I want and my place in this world. _

_ I love you, Betty. Never forget that. _

_ I'll see you soon, _

_ J. _

She believed in him. She trusted that he would come when he could, after figuring himself out. That never happened though. 

Weeks turned into months, months into a year and she never heard from him again. While a part of her hurt over the simple mention of his name and avoided thinking about him altogether, the other part wanted nothing more than to leave and try to find him, if only to tell him to go to hell. She hated how much she still loved him. After all, they had only been together for a little over a year, and soon he would have been gone for longer than that. 

The part that wanted to find him prevailed, and after asking Valerie to track down anything that could indicate where he was, she told Reggie she would be gone for a few days. Seeing as she had no exterior marks of her mutation, it was easy to blend in, especially in such a big city as New York -- the last place Valerie had been able to track. 

It took her over a week to finally find the place where the fire mutant had been seen last. It was a rundown bar named the Whyte Wyrm, in Hunts Point, and if not for the fact that she knew how to defend herself, Betty would've been wary of her surroundings. 

She stood on the wall by the entrance for the greater part of the night, waiting and hoping. She was on the verge of giving up, tired of standing there, when she heard laughter. _ His _laugh. 

Jughead was walking up to where she was, looking good as ever, and he wasn't alone. A pink-haired girl was on his arm, laughing along at whatever they were saying. The moment he saw her though, he froze. His laughter died and he just stood there, staring at her, dumbfounded. 

“Jughead?” his companion asks, breaking the silence, and without really thinking, Betty does something she has never done before: she pokes around _ Toni’s _mind, and in seconds, she’s turning around and leaving, unable to believe what she just saw. 

“Betty!” She hears him calling, but she keeps walking, not stopping. Not even when she hears footsteps. “Betty! Wait!” It’s only when his hand reaches her arm that she stops. _ Damn him and his long legs. _

“Go back to your date, Jughead. It’s rude to leave a girl hanging.” He moves to stand in front of her. 

“Betty I… what are you doing here?” She stares at him for a moment, before replying. 

“Making a mistake, apparently. You obviously found yourself and your place in the world with pretty in pink and Magneto’s band of lunatics.” Her quotation of his own words actually makes him take a step back. 

“It’s not like that, Betty.” For the first time, she actually looks into his blue eyes, feelings she didn’t want rushing through her veins, making her heart beat faster. 

“What is it like, then?” Her voice is a whisper, broken in a way she hoped he hadn’t heard. 

“I’m no good for you,” he states simply, not hesitating. “Please, understand. I’m not… good. And this is where I belong now.” His words make her forget everything that happened between them and she’s back to being the girl that wants nothing more than to help him. 

“No, Jug! You are good. You’re one of the best guys I’ve ever met. And I told you before, we all have good and bad inside of us, it’s what we choose that matters.” She pauses, taking his hand into his. “You can choose to be good. I can help you.” 

He shakes his head.“I’m far beyond helping, Betty.” 

“No one is beyond help, Jughead,” she fires right back, too stubborn to give up. 

“You know what? Fine. Stick around, and you’ll see.” Without further explanation, he walks away and she follows him, a decision she would always regret. 

The days that follow are weird and to say Jughead is distant would be a huge understatement. He’s a completely different person. By the end of that week, she has the chance to witness first-hand what the Brotherhood does, and who Jughead really is now, surrounded by Toni and the likes of her. 

One night, they drive out of the city, to the woods, where the rest of his group have two human guards tied up to trees. 

“Jughead? What’s going on?” She asks, even though she’s afraid of the answer.

“They worked at a containment center, Ponytail.” One woman named Penny replies, a cold and _ off _look in her eyes. “In charge of torturing and killing many of us. Tonight, they’ll pay for their crimes. Jones? Mind giving us a hand?” Jughead steps away from her, his hands lighting up in flames. 

“Jughead? What are you doing?” 

“He’s making them pay,” Toni replies with a resigned expression on her face.

“Jug, you can’t do this!” Every head turns at her words, and it’s Penny that speaks again.

“Jonesy, you said your friend wouldn’t interrupt us.” Jughead looks at her, and a simple word resonates inside her mind. 

_ Don’t. _

She ignores him. “Jughead, you don’t have to do this.” Betty says taking a step forward, and starting to focus. She’s desperate enough to consider using her abilities, knowing that just a small nudge would be enough to stop him from doing something he would regret. “It’s the choices we make, remember?” She locks her eyes with his. “You’re good. You can choose to be good.”

She’s about to grasp him, when abruptly, Jughead shakes his head, his face becoming unreadable. “Stay out of my head, Betty!” 

“Pea. Grab her.” Before she can think, two strong arms are holding her and it’s as if her powers are inside a glass box. Penny smiles as realization appears on Betty’s face.

“Worry not, Blondie. Sweet Pea is only a dampener. Your mojo will be back when he lets you go. I apologize, but we can’t have you interrupting.” Turning to Jughead, she speaks again. “Go on, Jones.” 

"Stop! Jughead, don't do this! Please!" Betty begged, struggling against the arms holding her back. "We don't need to do what they did! Please, stop this!" 

When he finally looks at her, it's like his eyes are … dead, empty, devoid of every emotion she’s come to know over the years. "No, Betty. This… this is the only way we can fight back. The only chance we have at a future with no more hiding, suffering, fear or shame." He turns away from her, flames begin to dance on his fingers before forming a fireball on his palm. "Pick him up." 

The human guard tied up at the tree begins to scream and her head all but explodes from the pain pouring out of him_ . _

It had been the last time she’d seen him. Until he had appeared inside her room, out of the blue, two years later. It’s only with great effort that she stops herself from thinking about him, deciding that the best thing she can do is to pretend that nothing happened at all.

Almost two months after his first appearance, Betty arrives home to find him sitting on her bed. Before she can say anything, he’s up to his feet and in front of her, leaning over and closing his lips over hers softly. She just slides her arms around his neck, bringing him closer. Jughead runs his tongue along her lips until she opens her mouth, and teasingly, he flickers it against hers, before retreating and repeating the gesture again and again, coaxing her. Finally, she gives fully in, tracing her tongue into his mouth. The way he sucks on her makes her moan against him. 

Her senses ignite, maneuvering her hand from his neck, she brings it to his shirt, pulling it up and off, so she can run her hands over his bare skin. Jughead groans low in his throat as she touches him, pulling her closer and closer, until their bodies are fully pressed together. With another ravishing kiss, he lifts her up, carrying her to her bed. 

As the mattress gives under their weight, he removes her clothes piece by piece, until she’s fully bare. “Betts, you’re so beautiful.” He kisses her again, making her head spin, before trailing his mouth down to her breasts, taking each one of her nipples alternately into his mouth as his hand seeks her center, where his fingers caressed her wisely, and she has to bit her lip to stifle her cries and moans until she came hard against his mouth.

He slid up her stomach then, taking her face between his hand to kiss her. His tongue tangled with hers as his hardness slid along her wetness, making her shudder, aching everywhere. Raising himself on his arms, he moved slowly and deliberated until he was fully inside. Moving again, he alternates between pulling back and thrusting forward, more intense and deeper each time. Everything spins around and losing definition except for him and Betty was lost in the way her nerves seemed to clench and unclench, more aware than ever of her skin, her breath and the blood rushing through her veins. They fell off the cliff almost together, the flood of her orgasm tingling and pulsating under her skin long after they were done and he had pulled her into his arms. 

Again, in the morning, he was gone when she woke up. 

Jughead came back another three times over the following months, repeating the same routine. He would make her speechless, out of her mind in pleasure while it was dark outside and be long gone when she woke. At last, Betty couldn’t take it anymore. 

Laying wrapped around him after they had just lost themselves in each other’s bodies, she moved, to be able to look at him. His blue eyes were sleepy but open, and his expression was one of full satisfaction and serenity. 

Tracing with a fingertip the love marks on his skin, she found the courage to speak the word she had been rehearsing on her head for the past months. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” she whispers so quietly she doubts he hears her, because at first, he’s silent and she looks up from his hands on her waist to see if he fell asleep, but instead, she finds him with his eyes wide open. He heard her alright. 

“Betts… I… understand why you’re saying this, but I would be remiss if I don’t tell you, at least once —” 

“Don’t.” She cuts him off, a finger to his lips to stop him. “Don’t say it.” She takes a deep breath before speaking again. “You know, I’ve felt everything for you. And at first, I was so afraid, because to have, in the lives we live, means to lose, and I didn’t want to lose you. But then, I was convinced that we can’t simply go through our lives alone, so I let you in and you broke my heart when you left. Even though I tried to hate you, I tried to forget you, nothing worked. I couldn’t stop myself from loving you and hoping for the day when we would be together again.” 

She takes a deep breath again, but keeps going, fearing that if she stops she won’t be able to say what she has to say. “And I guess that’s why I haven’t said anything before, but this isn’t working for me anymore. I’m tired of waking up alone, as if what we did was nothing but a dream. I won’t ask you to stay either, because I know you can’t. I know that you found yourself with the Serpents and the Brotherhood. Somehow, you’re… happy, or as happy as people like us can be. And I just want to be as happy as I can be, too.”

Again her words are met with silence. 

“I never meant to hurt you,” Jughead finally says, his voice serious but filled with unspoken emotions that his face refuses to show. “Not before, and certainly not now. I really missed you. And I meant what I said, when I told you I’d leave if you wanted me to.” He waits, unmoving, and she understands he’s waiting for her to say the words. To tell him to leave. 

“I don’t want you to leave, but I need to find a way to let you go, Jug. You need to let me let you go.” That seems to be enough, because he presses a kiss on her forehead, and gets up, picking up his clothes, to get dressed in her bathroom. Betty sits up, pulling the sheets around her to cover her body. When he gets out, he’s fully dressed, but instead of just leaving, he walks up to the side of her bed, leaning in he takes one of her hands, putting it against the side of his head. Her eyes widen as she questions him with a simple look. He just nods, and without a word, she presses her fingers to his forehead, while also raising her free hand to her own head. Closing her eyes, she opens herself to his mind. 

Flashes of their moments pass through her eyes, and she’s suddenly filled with a strong feeling of happiness and… love. As soon as it came, it’s gone, and he speaks in his head. 

_ Goodbye, Betty Cooper. Take care of yourself. _

**Jughead **

Sitting alone in the bar, he dawns yet another shot of the strong whiskey. His throat burns as it goes down, but he barely feels it. If there’s one thing he learned over the past seven months is how to hold down his liquor. He hears footsteps, but doesn't look up, not until he hears his name. 

“Jesus!” Toni exclaims agitatedly. “There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” 

“You’ve found me,” he jokes humorlessly. “How may I be of assistance?” She simply rolls her eyes, annoyed. 

“You’re drunk again.” Jughead lazily grins at her, before looking down at his hopelessly empty glass. “Awesome.” She’s about to say something else, when the sound of high heels strongly stepping on the wooden floor give him an instant headache. Almost immediately, he swears he can feel the waves of judgement coming off of Cheryl, Toni’s girlfriend.

“Sober up, Hobo,” she all but yells, hitting the table and knocking down his glass with her force. “Veronica Lodge from Mutant Underground needs you.” 

_ Veronica, _he repeats in his head, trying to understand what’s going on, but his brain doesn’t seem to cooperate. 

“What did she want?” 

“You would know if you weren’t here drinking your ass off!” Cheryl shoots back.

“Not now, babe.” Toni adds, putting a hand on her arm. “It’s Betty, Jug. She was captured by the Sentinels.” And just like that, he’s sober. 

_ No, no, no. Not this. Not Betty. _“What? How? What did she say?” 

“Not much,” Toni continues. “I don’t think she actually knows much, but she thought you should know.” She pauses, studying his face carefully. “What do you want to do?” 

He stares at her for a moment, lost as his head goes a hundred miles per hour with the hows, the whens, the whats and ifs. 

“You’re our leader, Jones.” Cheryl says, crossing her arms. “After everything that went down with Hellfire Club sickos, Penny, Tallboy and Malachi, and how you pretty much saved us from being terrorists and murders, we’re here for you. We know this girl is important to you, so, what do you want us to do?” 

Jughead closes his eyes for a moment, needing to concentrate. “I don’t know,” he replies, thinking of his next step with his still half blurred mind. “What I know is that I’m going to get her back, no matter what it takes.” 

_ I’ll find you, Betts. I’ll find you like you found me, and this time, I’ll tell you the truth and I won’t let you let me go. Not again. _


End file.
